AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 22

FLYING LIFE
Think big
How can we change the status quo?
BY NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER
WE HAVE AN ICE MACHINE in our fridge. You probably do too.
Ice for cold drinks, for the picnic cooler, to wrap around a hurt
knee after driveway basketball injuries. It's hard to imagine ice
once being a luxury. But until the mid-1860s, ice either had to be
shipped in at immense cost or cut from ponds in the winter, then
preserved underground. Drinks were served warm and food and
medicine preservation weren't all that effective. Enter the ice
machine. Dr. John Gorrie was looking for a way to make his yellow
fever patients more comfortable and ended up changing life as
we know it when he invented a machine design that would eventually
make ice readily accessible to all.
In general aviation, our unfortunate status quo has long been
the accident rate. For the past decade, GA in the United States averages
around 1,000 accidents a year, with roughly a 10 percent fatality
rate. In flight training circles, and certainly in this magazine, we frequently
discuss ways to avoid becoming a statistic, but we rarely
consider wide-reaching changes that might drop that 1,000 number
to say...100. I recently had a phone call from Richard Healing, former
NTSB board member and longtime director of safety and survivability
for the U.S. Navy. Healing described a project he worked on for a
helicopter company that operated in the Gulf of Mexico in support
of the oil and gas industry. The company's accident rate had hovered
around 2.2 per 100,000 flying hours, over half of which were
fatal. That was similar to other offshore operators in the area, but
the company's new CEO decided to challenge the status quo and
hired Healing to advise. Their solution? Put sensitive flight data
recorders on every aircraft that monitored speed, bank angle, pitch,
and other parameters. Every day, crews uploaded data to a server
that checked for flight activity falling outside stable flight. While
many pilots would balk at the idea of big brother watching their
every move, the initiative operated under a just culture with the
former president of the pilot union being the only company person
to review the analyzed data. As a result, those pilots became
more aware of their tendencies for unsafe flight-for example, a
high descent rate or excessive bank below 1,000 feet agl. After less
than one year of operating under this system, the company's accident
rate went to zero, where it remained for the next seven years.
Healing's solution to a plateaued accident rate centered on
changing pilot behavior patterns; others have had ideas that center
around upgrades to flying navigation apps, i.e. ForeFlight or
Garmin Pilot, to warn us when we depart stable flight. Like the
22
AOPA PILOT / August 2023
technology in jets, the tablet could vibrate or call out an aural warning
when bank angle or descent rate becomes excessive. Instead of
adding equipment, pilots could operate with equipment they are
already using. Tablets currently warn us of traffic or an active runway
crossing, so why can't they help us prevent accidents?
The General Aviation Joint Safety Committee, an FAA and
industry collaboration, was set up in 1997 with the goal of reducing
the GA accident rate. After years of data collection, they determined
the number one reason for loss of life in GA accidents to
be loss of control (stalls/spins) during takeoff and landing. Their
recommendation? Installing angle of attack indicators in every GA
airplane to help make pilots more aware of the energy state of their
aircraft. With the support of industry advocates, including AOPA,
the FAA then made changes in regulatory pathways to make the
installation process simpler and more affordable.
The FAA developed Wings, a training and proficiency program
that focuses on reducing the GA accident rate by educating pilots
through seminars and webinars. I'm the lead safety representative
for this program in my state, and we always give presentations
to a packed house. The pilots who attend gain valuable insight
in safety and accident mitigation strategies. But the concern has
always been that we are preaching to the choir-people who are
actively committed to staying proficient are less likely to have accidents.
How do you protect those who may not be as motivated?
With ideas like these, why are we still having more than 1,000
accidents a year in GA? Is it the expense of installing new equipment?
Probably not. An AOA indicator or flight data recorder is
inexpensive compared to the everyday operating costs of fuel and
aircraft maintenance. Is it a lack of knowledge or pilot awareness
about accident factors or statistics? Doubtful. Not when every
checkride has a stall/spin focus item. We can make greater gains
in reducing the accident numbers only by refusing to accept them
as status quo. The next time you're drinking an ice-filled glass of tea,
consider the possibility that there's a future that doesn't look like
this one. We could someday be flying in an environment where accidents
aren't commonplace
occurrences. What would
it take to get us there?
How can we be part of the
solution?
myaviation101.com
NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER
began flying in 2004. She now
serves as an FAA designated
examiner and chief instructor of a
flight school in Mississippi.
http://www.myaviation101.com
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023

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